Engagement themes 2024-2026

Nature

We believe biodiversity and nature loss will affect the capacity of our long-term economic growth and is likely to have implications for long-term asset returns. Protecting nature is therefore an integral part of Storebrand’s commitment to sustainability.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) highlights five direct drivers to biodiversity loss, namely land and sea use change, climate change, pollution, natural resource use and overexploitation, invasive alien species. Storebrand will give priority to the most material sub-industries, from the perspective of nature-related impacts, to ensure that these companies are mitigating their potential negative impacts.

Our expectations to companies are built on the mitigation hierarchy that is set out in the International Financial Corporation’s (IFC) Performance Standard 6 and guided by Science-Based Targets Network (SBTN) and Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Risks (TNFD).

Deforestation

Our ambition is to eliminate commodity-driven deforestation from our portfolios by 2025. However, we observe that companies are not making sufficient progress to eradicate deforestation and conversion from supply chains, and we are committed to continuing to engage forcefully on this issue, beyond 2025. As a part of our commitment to halting deforestation, we are engaging with companies in our portfolio that are involved in: production, trade, use or financing of forest-risk commodities and mining. We are doing this primarily through the Finance Sector Deforestation Action (FSDA).

In addition, we will continue to engage with policymakers in selected countries on deforestation, mainly through the collaborative initiative, Investor Policy Dialogue on Deforestation (IPDD).

Sustainable seafood 

Seafood is one of the world’s most highly traded and valuable commodities, with global demand expected to double by 2050. Yet a significant amount of seafood-related assets and revenue may be at risk due to overfishing, habitat degradation, nutrient pollution and disease. Companies, particularly within aquaculture, will be engaged to reduce some of the sector’s environmental impacts including biodiversity loss.

We expect the sector to address issues such as pressure on wild fish stocks, deforestation and habitat loss, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), pollution due to use of chemicals and waste, and animal welfare.

Extractives in ecologically sensitive areas

We will prioritise engagement with companies that operate or source from ecologically sensitive areas such as the Arctic and the deep sea. We will expand to other ecologically sensitive areas as data improves. Companies that derive more than 5 per cent of their revenues from Arctic drilling will be put on our observation list and closely monitored and engaged with based on our existing ownership.

Following the precautionary principle, Storebrand will not invest in companies that are directly involved in deep-sea mining, until more scientific knowledge is developed on the impacts of these activities. We will also engage with downstream companies that are involved in extractives in the deep sea.

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